On Saturday my wife and I noticed that my son, Parker (16 months old), was not feeling well. I took his temp and it was 102.8*F. He has never ran a fever like this, so it was a bit concerning to say the least. I called our Doctor's office and the on-call doc said to watch him for 24 hours and if he is not better, he would meet us at the office on Sunday. This was around 4 pm on Saturday. Sunday morning around 6:30 am I noticed that Parker felt very warm. I took his temp again and it was 104.1*F! I took it again just to be sure the thermometer was reading correctly. It was 103.8*F the second time. Just as I started to get him back up he started throwing up. He was pretty lethargic and would not take any fluids so I called the doctor back and he met us at the office at noon on Sunday.

He evaluated Parker and although Parker was lethargic, he couldn't pin-point the cause. At that point he made the decision to send us to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, TN.
We arrived at the Children's ER and within 15 minutes we were back in a room and Parker was being evaluated. A few chest and stomach x-rays later and they new what was causing his fever and lethargy. Parker had a pretty significant case of pneumonia in his left lung. The docs admitted him and off to the 7th floor of the Children's Hospital we went.

After a very rough night of no sleep and a ton of fluids and antibiotics, Parker was starting to look better. Monday he was a totally different child. Still not 100%, but miles better than he was Saturday and Sunday. He hadn't ran a fever since late Sunday night so everything was going great.

The doc came in on Monday and told us that we would not be going home just yet and we would be spending Christmas eve night in the Hospital. Not fun!

I have to say that spending Christmas Eve night in the hospital with your sick child is about the last place that anyone would want to be. Having said that, Parker's Christmas Eve experience at Children's hospital was nothing short of amazing. We were told that Santa makes a visit to every child's room in the Hospital on Christmas night and has been doing so for around 8 years. We were told that he brings a gift for every child. This definitely brightened our spirits as we did not bring presents from the house because we had no idea we would be spending Christmas Eve in the Hospital.

So Santa starts making his rounds at midnight and around 1:30am he pops into our room. Parker is asleep with me on a little pull-put couch and my wife is curled up in the crib (Parker's bed). :uglyhamme
He comes in with a huge bag of presents and we figured he would just leave a gift from the bag and move on to the next room. Not a chance. That entire bag was for Parker! Every child in that hospital that night got an entire bag (about the size of a big Glad garbage bag) full of toys, books, DVD's, etc! It was beyond amazing, and my wife and I were in total shock. On top of all the presents was a $50 Target gift card from Tim McGraw and Faith Hill! Come to find out that various organizations and local businesses donate the gifts and/or funds to provide each child with the presents and Tim and Faith provide the gift certificates. We were blown away. It made the not so pleasant thought of spending Christmas Eve night in the hospital with a sick child much more bearable.

This morning the doctor came in and released us to go home. We left Children's around 11:30am and got home around 1:30pm (we had to pick-up our dog from some friends of ours).

Parker is doing 100 times better and is now asleep in his own bed, and very content to be home. He didn't sleep much at the hospital so neither did Dad.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

6ballsisall

12-25-2007, 10:31 PM

What a happy ending story Beau! The businesses and people that donate their time and resources for something like what you experienced is awesome! I'll bet of all the Christmas's you'll have for the rest of your life, you and Wendy wont forget this one!

What a GREAT STORY! Glad to hear Parker is doing so much better!:toast:

milkmania

12-26-2007, 12:55 AM

bcampbe7,

tis the season for miracles....
and you and your family have been blessed by experiencing it:)

you'll never forget it

Footin

12-26-2007, 01:01 AM

Glad it came out ok Beau.

CottagerGreg

12-26-2007, 01:07 AM

Glad everything worked out for the best. Also kudo's to those to donated all those gifts! Merry Christmas

Willski

12-26-2007, 01:10 AM

Hope everything continues on the upward trend. Sorry to hear any child being sick, but anyone who is a parent has been through it!

Bruce

12-26-2007, 01:49 AM

Must admit I teared up while reading this. So glad it ended well. I will keep you guys in my prayers till Parker is 100%. By the way I have a 9 year old grandson named Parker.
Merry Christmas.
Bruce

suedv

12-26-2007, 01:55 AM

I'm so glad he's OK. I'm sure that was really rough. It's so hard to see a little child so sick.

ski_king

12-26-2007, 10:01 AM

Beau, Glad to hear Parker is feeling better, I know how scary that can be. While the hospital may not have been where you and Parker wanted to spend Christmas, it sounds like there wasn't a better place on earth for him to be that night.

I remember some simular nights with my daughter at the local childrens hospital and I remember how well she (and her parents) were taken care of.

Leah

12-26-2007, 11:03 AM

What a warm story for the Holiday!!!! I'm glad that your little man is doing better! Best wishes for a QUIET rest of the holiday week to you and your family!

Leroy

12-26-2007, 11:19 AM

Glad it turned out great for you Beau! Isn't it great there are people that think of things like making a Christmas for little guys in the hospital.

bcampbe7

12-26-2007, 11:33 AM

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.

He ate a ton of food last night and this morning so he is getting back to his normal self.

Santa found his way to our house last night as well. :)

east tx skier

12-26-2007, 11:33 AM

Beau, I'm glad it all turned out okay, and hope Parker continues to feel better. Ours had a 100 plus fever from Wednesday to Sunday. Only a virus and he started feeling better by Monday, but we've een plenty concerned. Again, I'm glad it all worked out for you guys.

mitch

12-26-2007, 11:34 AM

Glad everything worked out!

milkmania

12-26-2007, 12:00 PM

Glad it turned out great for you Beau! Isn't it great there are people that think of things like making a Christmas for little guys in the hospital.

agreed!
and I think that has a lot to do with the fact they or a family member stayed in the hospital during the holidays.